Large containers, also named jugs, which are employed in the servicing of drinking water in dispensing units are customarily cylindrical in form. Such jugs, when applied to units of the electrical or non-electrical type, are inverted and positioned upon the upper portion of the dispensing unit to supply water to an inner reservoir as it is being dispensed. Water is supplied to the reservoir from a replaceable jug which is inverted on the top of the cooler unit, the neck of the bottle being placed in a funnel-shaped inlet to the reservoir at the top of the dispensing unit. Pumps can also be used to supply water out of the jugs. The capacity of a typical jug is of the order of five gallons. When all the water in the jug has been dispensed the empty jug is removed and replaced by another full bottle. Usually a supply of full jugs is kept at the site and from time to time the supplier will deliver a fresh supply of filled jugs and collect the empty jugs for cleaning and refilling.
The jugs are blow moulded from plastic material such as polyester terephtalate or polycarbonate. A plastic cap fits over the top of the neck to close the jug whilst it is in transit or storage. These jugs are difficult to lift and manoeuvre into position on the cooler unit because of their bulk and weight when full.
Because these jugs are returnable and refillable, they are thus subjected to numerous handling and storage operations and conditions, wherein they are exposed to mechanical constraints such as abrasive wear, notably in the contact area between the jugs after stacking, or such as drops.
Then, the requirements of the moulded plastic jugs are notably resistance to abrasion (scuffing) and impact or drop resistance.
In this respect, the moulded plastic jugs have a wall thickness of at least 400 μm, preferably 500 μm, and more preferably comprised between 600 and 1500 μm. This wall thickness requirement is linked to the relatively large capacity of the thin-walled bottle, i.e at least, in an increasing order of preference and in liters: 10; 15; 21.
The fact that these jugs are returnable and can be reused, involves numerous constraints, such as organization of a delivery circuit of full thin-walled bottles and of a circuit for picking up empty jugs. Moreover, these empty jugs are cumbersome and must be washed and treated before their refilling. This involves sanitary issues. New caps have also to be put on the refilled bottles.
Due to their frequent handling and to their storage conditions, they are submitted to scuffing, which gives them an unsightly aspect inappropriate to the marketing.
Insofar as these jugs are rigid, each sampling of liquid (e.g. water) involves an intake of ambient air to compensate for the sampled volume. In doing so, the compensating ambient air contaminates the liquid (e.g. water). This contamination comes to a head as the thin-walled bottle is almost empty. This is a noteworthy sanitary drawback.
To sum up, these jugs are expensive, heavy, difficult to handle and to market, and tricky with respect to sanitary issues.
Thin-walled PET containers for beverages (e.g. water) made by Injection moulding of a preform, as well as Stretching, Blowing and Moulding (ISBM), are also known.
EP1436203B1 discloses a PET container including walls made of flexible PET plastic and comprising a 30-100 μm-walled body (1) with greater section of dimension (d1) and neck (2) with internal diameter (d2), closed by a closing-off member (3). The wall(s) (4) forming the body of the container is made of flexible plastic which can be deformed for constant surface area, particularly under the weight of the flowable product contained in the container when the wall(s) encounter a point or bearing surface, so as to form, non-planar wall portion (5).
The ratio of d2 on d1 is 1:3-1:10. These containers however are unpractical for example due to a bad resistance and/or low compactability.
EP1468930B1 concerns a container having a body (1) formed by a wall (4) with a diameter S1 and at least a neck (2) with a diameter S2, made from a semi-crystalline PET, having a wall thickness of less than 100 μm, substantially in the middle of its body and having a complex, three dimensional shape (3) convenient for gripping, this part having diameter S3. These containers however are unpractical for example due to a bad resistance and/or low compactability.
EP1527999B1 describes a container comprising a body formed by walls and a bottom having in his greater section a dimension d1 and a neck with an internal diameter d2, said container being made from a semi-crystalline PET, the body of said container comprising at its bottom at least three feet spaced from each other and being integral with said body, wherein for the body, the ratio weight of the walls on weight of the bottom is comprised between 3 and 4 and wherein the ratio volume, in ml of the body of the container per gram of PET of the body is comprised between 80 and 120, and wherein the walls of the body have a thickness of less than 100 μm, and the bottom has a thickness between 100 μm and 200 μm, and each foot has a wall thickness of 50 μm to 150 μm. These containers however are unpractical for example due to a bad resistance and/or low compactability.
Nevertheless, such arrangements are not compatible with large volumes because the thus produced containers cannot be handled except to increase the amounts of material.
JP2001122237 discloses a PET thin-walled bottle including a neck segment 1, a shoulder 2, a barrel segment 3 is formed into a thin-walled segment. The shoulder 2 is formed to have a wall thickness of 0.2 to 0.3 mm. A segment ranging from an interface 5 of the shoulder 2 to a part lower than the barrel 3 is formed to have an ultrathin wall of 0.02 to 0.05 mm in such a way that the shoulder can be pushed into the barrel after use of the thin-walled bottle, to enable the thin-walled bottle to be scrapped. A deformation strength of the barrel 3 is increased by notch of a lateral rib 6 of optional shape. These containers are however unpractical.
US2010206876A1 pertains to a PET disposable thin-walled high-capacity container is obtained by blowing a preformed shape 10 that has a collar 12 and a neck 14 designed to receive a plug 16 and is able to exhibit residual stresses after its shaping to the desired volume. The container has a material weight/developed surface ratio of said container of between 150 g/m2 and 250 g/m2. The container is filled with water under cold conditions and without pressure, and then sealed using a plug that can be pierced. This container 18, after filling, undergoes a peripheral heating that is designed to release residual stresses that are stored in the material. These released stresses have a tendency to bring the container back to its initial shape before the blowing process, i.e., that of the preformed shape. Because of this tendency toward a reduction of volume of the container and because the liquid that is contained, in this case water, is incompressible, a pressurization of the liquid by the container occurs, which makes this container 20 essentially compact and therefore easy to handle.
This compact container can be set upside down in a dispenser, including a trocard which pierces the plug and depressurizes the container which becomes soft and must be held by receiving means thereof. The dispensing of water is facilitated by a ballast 32 which is not convenient. These containers are however unpractical, due the need of a ballast for compacting efficiently. Moreover, these containers are not adapted to be stored easily in a minimum of space.